XP sees internal hard drive as removable device?

[Rob]

I just bought a new system that has a 200GB Maxtor SATA hard drive.

I loaded XP with SP1, then upgraded to SP2. I have upgraded my BIOS and

chipset drivers.

The weird thing is that XP displays the hard drive as a removable
device on the task bar. You know, like when you attach a USB device you

get the little icon in the task bar? Is this normal?

Thanks

--RobMc

AMD 3000
1 GB Ram
Asus A8N-SLI
GeForcce 6600 LE
Maxtor 200 GB SATA hard drive

 

[Anna]

I just bought a new system that has a 200GB Maxtor SATA hard drive.

I loaded XP with SP1, then upgraded to SP2. I have upgraded my BIOS and

chipset drivers.

The weird thing is that XP displays the hard drive as a removable
device on the task bar. You know, like when you attach a USB device you

get the little icon in the task bar? Is this normal?

Thanks

--RobMc

AMD 3000
1 GB Ram
Asus A8N-SLI
GeForcce 6600 LE
Maxtor 200 GB SATA hard drive

Rob:
What makes you think the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon refers to your SATA
HD? When you double-click on that icon, does it list the HD as the device? I
think not. Is it possible the icon is actually referring to your connected
USB printer? Or perhaps another USB device connected to your computer?
Anna

 

[V Green]

Rob:
What makes you think the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon refers to your SATA
HD? When you double-click on that icon, does it list the HD as the device? I
think not. Is it possible the icon is actually referring to your connected
USB printer? Or perhaps another USB device connected to your computer?
Anna

Or the CF/SD card slot on the printer?

 

[Rob]

Anna,

Thanks for the reply. There is nothing else connected to the system -
no USB devices, no printer, no CF/SD readers, nothing.

When I double-click on the icon, it shows me my hard drive and all the
partitions I created. It says "Maxtor 6L200S0 at Location 0" If I try
to "remove" one, it says it cannot it is in use

 

[Anna]

Or the CF/SD card slot on the printer?

Anna,

Thanks for the reply. There is nothing else connected to the system -
no USB devices, no printer, no CF/SD readers, nothing.

When I double-click on the icon, it shows me my hard drive and all the
partitions I created. It says "Maxtor 6L200S0 at Location 0" If I try
to "remove" one, it says it cannot it is in use
RobMc

Hi Rob:
That *is* interesting and something I was unaware of. I just checked with my
colleagues and they informed me that if the SATA drive supports
"hot-swapping" (which apparently your Maxtor drive does) and the
motherboard's SATA controllers also support this capability (which
apparently your motherboard does), then the drive will *usually* (see below)
be listed in the Safely Remove Hardware message box. Why this is so they
could not explain.

They also informed me that it's an erratic situation in that with some
hot-swappable SATA HDs that are supported by the motherboard, the drive is
*not always* listed in that SRH message box.
Anna

 

[Rob]

Anna, Thanks again for the response. I have also sent an email to
Maxtor tech support to see if they have any answers on this.
--Rob